Tropes in Bleach: The War of Four
A-G *'Adorkable:' In his interaction with Rika Nakamura, Shinshin Fūten shows a side of this. He as well as Hyōryū, Shito, Shou Yoshizawa, and a few more of the V-14 show this later on. *'Adult Fear:' During his fight with Yashin, Qilin becomes afraid that the Alliance will be just as ruthless and discriminate against his daughter Michiko as they were to his wife Shikyo. *'A-Team Firing:' Averted in the case of V-14's victims, as just about every shot they land hits at least a part of their target. Poor, poor 10th Division... **Played straight in the engagement between Genesis Holmes and Daigomi Bandai, as well as several other instances where major characters get into gun battles. *'Affably Evil:' Most of the V-14 qualify as this, as they have rather upbeat and pleasant personalities to go with their dangerous and dirty deeds. *'All For Nothing:' You'd think that after realizing that the V-14 were able to handle themselves, despite Yashin Shiyōnin knowing everything there is to know about them, that the Inner Circle's attempts to use such information would be considered pointless. **Shou believes this applied to the invasion of the Black Blood Sect's HQ, although this has yet to be confirmed. *'All According To Plan:' Turns out that the V-14's survival against the Inner Circle was part of Yashin's plan, and he was holding back the entire time. **In Furuidenshō's duel with Suna, he reveals that his defeat at the hands of Juhabach and Aizen was a ploy to get himself *'All Up To You:' Concerning the V-14's position into victory, Angelika has the leeway of deciding which direction they should take. However, this has occasionally extended to temporary decision-making over other factions such as the Black Blood Sect. *'All Your Base Are Belong To Us:' The Inner Circle's attack on the Sect's HQ and Aizen's attack on Empresa. *'Authority Equals Asskicking:' Just about everyone with a commander's role in the battle qualifies. *'Artistic License - Gun Safety:' Most of the V-14 don't seem to have earplugs while using their firearms, and the prolonged gun-fighting they're involved in would render their hands arthritic. *'Ax Crazy:' Hyōryū shows her girly side... when she's about to blow away the 10th Division with one of her most dangerous weapons ever. *A good portion of V-14 have this in spades. Oliver and Yajū take the cake. *'Badass:' Probably anyone who has dialogue, barring mooks and cannon fodder. *'Badass Army:' Averted in the case of the 10th Division. When they surround the V-14 complex, having both firearms and blades to boot, all of them get slaughtered shortly afterwards by the four-man squad, with the exception of Shindō. **Aizen's army emanating such a strong, united pressure as they march in the Menos Forest below Empresa to cause one of the aware Espada Afilado to feel a sense of unease. Only time will tell how terrifying this army really is... **The Daitenshi, with their regenerative abilities and superhuman ability, is the embodiment of this trope. *'Badass Boast:' Commonplace. *'Badass In Distress:' The V-14 Alpha/Beta Team nearly end up getting killed by Shindō and Yashin before being bailed out by Sakura and the Gamma Team. *'Badass Longcoat:' Angelika Hartmann and Shadō Kariudo. *'Berserk Button:' Attack the men under Shindō's command, and he will not hesitate to declare murderous justice on you. This goes for Angelika, too. **This happens when Mōshin Tenmō goads Oliver Holmes into yelling bloody murder while unleashing literal hell upon him with his heavy duty guns, albeit with no affect. **This also happens later when the "Truth" about Angelika's past being involved and directly responsible for countless lost, including his mentor and friend, Sousuke. In a blind fit of rage, Daisuke lashes out and delivers a near fatal blow and threatens to make Angelika suffer for the countless lives lost due to her previous line of employment, not stopping his attacks even when facing against Shou. **Simon Moriarty only needs to see a notorious serial killer once before he loses it. *'Becoming The Mask:' In his past, Yusuke was a Stepford Smiler after the death of his parents. In time, though, he found it much easier to smile and be happy than continue grieving. *'Be Yourself:' Oliver believes in this to the most extreme degree. *'Big Good:' Furuidenshō Kakkotaru Shin'nen becomes this for the Soul Society for a while. After the invasion of the Seireitei by the Inner Circle and when he becomes M.I.A., Hana Yūgure takes this role. Angelika Hartmann becomes this for the V-14 after the alliance with the Gotei 13, and even The Punisher becomes this for the Daitenshi. *'Bishōnen:' Shindō could qualify for this. Shou and Yusuke, as well. It is even lampshaded constantly on Yusuke's part - and the reason where he got the nickname "skirts". *'Bling Bling Bang:' Angelika's golden HCA-50 Kidō pistol. **Daigomi revealed the same weapon when fighting against the Daitenshi tasked in capturing/killing him, despite controversial denial of the weapon being rare. *'Black and Grey Morality:' Although the Inner Circle can be considered a very villainous faction, the Soul Society and those that come to its aid aren't exactly with a clean slate. This is made clear in one-on-one duels that take place within the series. *'Brainwashed:' If you look at it from a technical point of view, the Punisher actually did this to the Daitenshi in order to ensure their loyalty towards her. *'Bring It Back Alive:' Angelika may or may not have ordered for Shou to capture Daigomi alive. *'Broken Pedestal:' Oliver makes it a priority to kill Jamie after his betrayal. **For a while, this was in the case of how Shinshin viewed Asuka after she had abandoned him. They did get better, though. *'Butt Monkey:' Oliver Holmes. At first, his jerk-ass behavior and rough attitude makes it hard to sympathize with him when he's being jerked around. This starts to change as the arc progresses, however. **To be honest, most of the bad things that happened to the Punisher was mostly self-inflicted. But she literally possesses a history of this. In recent events, this status hasn't improved much. *'Call Back:' Although not much has yet to be known about their actual relation between each other, the duel between the mind-controlled Kōjaku Kuchiki and Qilin seems like a reference to the rivalry between Byakuya Kuchiki and Zaraki Kenpachi. *'Catch This!': Mōshin does this to the Nihilist when merely slicing his glave across space...and caused anything within its range to be destroyed uttterly, causing Nihilist to believe it a force needed for his trump card to repel. *'The Cartel:' In terms of the Inner Circle. *'Celebrity Is Overrated:' Angelika does not want to be the head of a criminal empire due to her personal belief of all empires falling sometime, much to the disappointment of Mōka. *'The Chase:' The Inner Circle and Soul Society are hunting down the V-14 for various reasons and intentions. *'Character Development:' Hyōryū shows some signs of this after the Plinian Eruption. **Angelika Hartmann has been seen showing subtle signs of this, as well as Meikurai Shiomaneki. *'The Chessmaster:' Yashin continuously plays this role, and he's only the right-hand man of the real Big Bads. *'Combat Pragmatist:' Very prominent with Senkakusha in her second confrontation with the Punisher. *'Consummate Professional:' Angelika, to a lesser degree. Though she doesn't mind joining in on her team's occasional antics, she won't take any crap thrown by them when it comes down to the nitty-gritty. **The Horsemen of the V-14 fall under this, as well. *'Curb-Stomp Battle:' In the battle between the Sennin Butai and the Espada Afilado, Bernabe gets brought down with his own attack, Nicolao is beaten to a pulp, Loly is torn to pieces, and Tierra is crushed almost beyond recognition. *'Damn It Feels Good To Be A Gangster:' The V-14, in spades. *'Dark Action Girl:' Just about every female on the criminal side (with the exception of non-combatant Rika Nakamura) qualifies for this trope. *'Deadpan Snarker:' V-14's Alpha Team has their moments more than anyone else does. *'Demonic Invaders:' Otherworldly, darker creatures seemed to have come to the Inner Circle's aid... *'Different Tactics': This happens when a seemingly "One-shot" deceptive combatant, the likes of Sōsuke Aizen, switches from using illusions and perceptive overpowering swordsmanship to an even higher rate of perception and mostly relying on physical attributes of an transcended scale to ward off incredibly high-level attacks and techniques. *'The Ditz:' Oliver is often accused of being guilty of being a moron. *'Doesn't Like Guns:' Rika. She never carries one and is quick to throw them away while everyone else doesn't hesitate to pick them up and start spraying. *'Dual Wielding:' Oliver, Hyōryū, and sometimes Asuka. *'Enemy Mine:' The V-14 and Soul Society eventually team up to fight against the Inner Circle. *'Even Evil Has Standards:' The V-14 are quick to declare Yashin as a nothing more than a monster and a demon due to his actions. In addition, Tenshina refuses to finish off the weakened escort of former Captain prisoners (regardless of him getting reprimanded by Valeur for it). *'Faux Affably Evil:' Just about a good majority of the Inner Circle's higher-ups and affiliates are full of this trope, to varying degrees. Some are just simple Jerkasses underneath it all, while some are much, much more psychotic... *'Flipping The Bird:' Oliver does the arm version of this to Mōka in order to make sure that she knows just how much of a rebel he is. *After getting overwhelmed by Kurūeru Jōdan in the initial stages of their duel, Braeburn stands back up and flips the guy off, with a smile on his face! It really drives in just how stubborn he is and how much entertainment he takes in combat. *'From Nobody to Nightmare:' Despite him certainly being a badass gunman, Oliver initially paled in comparison to the many superpowers serving as V-14's enemies. Then Choku Kanshin strikes down his long-time gal pal... *'Girls With Guns' *'Good Is Not Nice:' This is held to a considerable extreme during the Gotei 13's counter-attack in the Soul Society. Byakuya slaughters several Inner Circle dogs in cold blood without consideration, Shindō opts to slaughter the entire Takuji rebel force for the sake of vengeance, and Furuidenshō doesn't even bother to spare Suna the usual idle talk before a battle talk! At least one of these instances get called out by another. To be fair, though, they had been through a lot of crap by this point... *'Guns Akimbo:' Oliver and Hyōryū. Category:Mōshin Tenmō Category:Trope Pages H-P *'Headbutting Heroes:' Although they've called a truce, it is clear that some of the Espada Afilado still don't get along very well with the Gotei 13. Hostilites are more prominent with the V-14 and parts of the resistance faction as well. *'He Knows Too Much:' Choku opposes the motions of the Inner Circle, but is aware that he knows too much about them and would most certainly be killed if he attempted any form of opposition to their goals. **This applies also to Meikurai Shiomaneki, when a fellow Dragon implores his Master to make sure he and his compatriots behind enemy lines are silenced. **Subverted when Yashin sends a mind-controlled Shito to kill Meikurai, Qilin and Tetsuyo. After they subdue Shito, it's found out that Yashin was deliberately sending crucial information about the Inner Circle to the Alliance. *'Hell Invades Heaven:' With the Inner Circle serving the role of Hell and the Soul Society being the closest thing to Heaven. *'Heroic BSOD:' Mikado Amarante tells Senna that despite his energy feeling like Ichigo Kurosaki, his voice sounding like Ichigo, and his acting like Ichigo, he isn't, as the real Ichigo died two centuries ago. Needless to say, she does not take it very well. *'Hitman With A Heart:' Yusuke and Rika embrace this trope the most out of the other V-14 members. *'Hoist By His Own Petard:' Bernabé Lino is attacked and ultimately severely injured by his own Cero used against him in his fight with Lord Rey Dorado. *'Ho Yay:' Sakura and Rika. Rika even lampshades this trope, although it seems she is unaware of doing so. *'Idiot Ball:' Things probably wouldn't have gone so bad for you if you had just locked that door, Murasaki... *'Insult Backfire:' The Punisher uses the "Your Lieutenant Is Dead" line on Hachiro Horikawa, but is shocked when he is able to defend the Lieutenant without an emotional outburst. It gains her respect. ** The Punisher also gives a "The Reason You Suck" speech to a seemingly enraged Reaper during their second encounter. Not only does it not work, it causes him to transition from genuinely angry to very happy in a very "Mood Whiplash" fashion. *'Intergenerational Frendship:' At least a few of the V-14 have considerable age gaps between them. *'Irony:' The Punisher still refers to the Shinigami and Souls as mortals, despite her losing her immortality and invincibility. Lampshaded by Daisuke Hayate (much to her displeasure). **The V-14's motto is "No enemies, no opponents". Guess what? They've just about made an enemy with every major faction they've come across (as Rai Xanxus puts it correctly). *'The Lad-ette:' Hyōryū, most definitely. *'Kick The Dog:' Shidai threatens Rika, the innocent, harmless one, with the same mind rape that he inflicted onto Shinji. **Masahiro threatens the life a young, pre-teen girl. Mind you, it was to save the skins of him and his fellow runaways. Nevertheless, it is a pretty cruel action, especially considering the weapon he used to do so... *'Mind Rape:' Asuka and Shinji Konno suffer this at the hands of Yashin Shiyōnin and Shidai Kagai, with the latter of the two victims suffering an even worse ordeal. *'A Mother To Her Men:' Angelika, Asuka, Casilda and Shikyo Ninaru. *'Mood Whiplash:' Happens quite a bit concerning characters. *'Never A Self-Made Woman': Averted, so far. The majority of women involved didn't get where they were through via the relationship with a man. *'No Holds Barred Beatdown:' How Nicolao is defeated by Kōin. *'No Nonsense Nemesis:' Averted quite a lot and lampshaded by Loly in her fight with Magatta Keiryō. Magatta makes it a habit of talking down and boasting to her opponent to where Loly eventually calls her out for not following through with her taunts. **Played straight in the fight between Tierra Doncella and Murasaki Hoshijirushi... at least at the beginning of the fight. *'Official Couple:' Anton/Hyōryū. Rukia and Meikurai seem to be leaning in this direction, as well. *'Oh Crap:' Genesis is utterly shocked into silence when Percival Chapman ambushes and momentarily takes down Shou Yoshizawa, Yajū Reijingu, and Zaii Futō at once. Q-V *'The Reveal:' Several. **Angelika was the one who had caused the pandemic of parasitic invaders to come across the Soul Society, claiming thousands of lives in the process. Notably, her part in causing the Mourning War made her directly responsible for the death of 9th Division Lieutenant Sōsuke Kurasama - something that nearly gets her killed when Daisuke learns of it. **Yashin is revealed to be a major conductor of the events that transpire within the War of Four arc, claiming to have manipulated even the likes of Aizen, Juhabach and the Horseman of the Inner Circle. **Jamie Holmes, brother of Oliver and a seeming supporter of V-14 during their adventure in Aether, reveals himself as an Inner Circle agent working for Yashin. **Although this was hinted at by Kukkyōna, Yashin reveals that Shikyo, the 4th Horseman, is also Qilin's wife. *'Roaring Rampage of Revenge:' Senkaku Ningensei's personal intrusion into the I.C.-controlled Soul Society can be seen as this, with his actions and words reinforcing it. **Jamie was looking for an opportunity to kill Oliver's new family, as himself puts it, and turn him back into the monster that was the Black Eagle. Although, it turns out that the Eagle never really left Oliver... *'Runs in the Family': With Oliver Holmes as the Black Eagle and Jamie Holmes as the Blood Coat, they've both shared similar traits of genocidal behavior and wanton for bloodlust/destruction. *'Sealed Evil In A Can:' Mōshin Tenmō was bound to Hell for an extended period of time by the Punisher... but was released a while before the events of the series. *'Shell-Shocked Veteran:' Many of the Gotei 13 have not left the Mourning War without heavy psychological scars. Tamiko Okayama demonstrates this when Fuhai Yoku summons a hoard of undead in order to attack her and Masahiro Sugiyama. *'Shoot The Dog:' Angelika callously hands Oliver over to the Paladins in order to prevent conflict against her exhausted forces. *'Shut Up, Hannibal!:' When the Sennin Butai confront the Espada Afilado, Tenshi (who's revealed as a member of their group) begins to call Casilda out on a hypocritical note... and is promptly dismissed by a figurative wave of her hand. *'Slasher Smile:' There are several instances in where the villains really show off the full extent of their dastardly nature with these. Even the heroes use this from time to time. *'Suave Romantic': Meikurai attempts this as he makes good company with his fellow Dragon comrade, Brina McTavish. Not only does he fail to have a moment over a balcony scenic view by an attempted assassination of both their persons, but the inevitable rejection due to her unknown marriage of elusive, yet highly regarded Inner Circle agent, Rushifa Sureiya. **Succeeds to a T. After a slightly awkward invitation, Meikurai flies her to a beautifully themed resort built into a mountain. Not only is their suite jaw-dropping along with most of the interior design of the resort, he gets her a sparkling white dress to boot. *'Tempting Fate:' Meikurai, the next time your partner asks you to get ready for an enemy attack, just keep quiet and get ready! *'Tsundere:' Hyōryū can change from calm, composed, and uncaring to extremely shy and flustered if one pokes fun of her relationship around men. *'Villain Opening Scene:' The arc takes place in the midst of a V-14 meeting. *'Vitrolic Best Buds:' Shou Yoshizawa and Oliver from the V-14. Hell, possibly all of the V-14 could qualify with each other for this trope (with few exceptions, of course). Brina and Tenshi, after their "friendly enemy" moment and duel to the death, seem to be this after the pact between Sōsuke Aizen and the Inner Circle. *'Villainous Breakdown:' Brina gets the second one within the War of Four series, with the first one being from Heigo Sureiyā. After getting struck with a punch courtesy of Sazuke's complete Shunkō (and proving to be unable to any damage whatsoever), she shifts from a cool and composed woman to a screaming and sobbing wreck. It's not pretty. W-Z *'What the Hell, Hero?' When Kunō Shiru and Shikyo Ninaru's daughter go out to play, they happen to wander near a position where Masahiro, Tamiko, Seishuku and Enricho are hiding. Masahiro ambushes the child and uses her as a hostage against Kunō to let them escape. The lack of regard for morality causes both of his teammates to call him out. *'Worthy Opponent:' Initially seeing the V-14 as nothing more than mere criminals, Percival reconsiders his thoughts and becomes impressed at how Anton and Zaii fought against Xavier Longstreak and himself respectively. Category:Mōshin Tenmō Category:Trope Pages